It is important for
beginning
readers to become aware of phonemes in words in order to know the
sounds each
letter makes. A phoneme is the vocal gesture found in spoken
words.
The most difficult phonemes for children to recognize are vowels.Phoneme
awareness is one of the best predictors of reading proficiency.
In this
lesson, students will practice distinguishing the phoneme e=/e/ in
spoken and
written words. This lesson will provide practice in spelling and
reading
the vowel e = /e/.

I would introduce the
lesson by saying, "Good morning boys and girls! Today we are going to
do a letterbox lesson. The letterboxes will help us see the
different sounds in words and the spellings are maps of those
sounds. When you learn the secret code of the way words are
written then it will become easier to read and remember words. So, now
we are going to learn the short vowel e. The e makes
the /e/ sound.If you are having a
difficult time remembering what sound the /e/ makes just remember it is
the sound when someone can’t hear you very good.Kind
of like your grandmother or grandfather."/e/
what did you say?" For example, here is the word pet (spell pet
in the three letterboxes on the board). (Point to the letter e)This
letter sounds like /e/ what did you say? (Make sure to do the hand
motion, cupping your hand around your ear).Okay
boys and girls I want you all to think about the way your mouth moves
when you say /e/. Everyone say /e/.Awesome,
this time I am going to say /e/ and cup my hand to my ear, like I am
having trouble hearing you(Demonstrate hand to ear) /e/…boys and girls
I can’t hear you.Now I want you to try it
with me.Everyone put your hand to your
ear.Very good, now say /e/…I can’t hear
you! Now I want everyone to do it together. Wonderful!"

Introduce the tongue
twister. Hold up the tongue twister on a sentence strip.
"Okay, I am going to read the sentence once and then I want you to read
it with me. Ellie’s Elephant has an Eskimo dress.Now lets say it together.Ellie’s Elephant has an Eskimo dress.
Great job! This time I am going to cup my hand
around my ear when I hear the sound /e/ like /e/…I can’t hear you.
(demonstrate to students) Okay now I want everyone to try it with me,
don’t forget to cup yourhand around your
ear when you hear the /e/ sound. Eeeellie’s Eeeelaphant has
an Eeeeskimo dreeees. Way to go!"

Ask the students
questions about which words have the /e/ in spoken words. I am
going to read you two words and I want you to tell me which words have
the /e/ sound in it. For example, do you hear /e/ in bed
or mat? bed, good job! Let’s start. Do
you hear /e/ in red or black? let or stop?
sled or car? dog or pet? Good job!

"Now I want you to get
out your boxes and letters. We are going to spell some
words. Remember only one mouth move goes in each box." (I will
first model how to put each letter sound in the box and then give the
students different words to put into practice on their own.)
"Okay, the word is /p/ /e/ /n/ I am going to put each letter/sound,
mouth move, in one letterbox. /p/ that is one sound so I will put /p/
in the first box.What sound do I hear
next? peee, I hear /e/ just like /e/… I can’t hear you. So I am going
to put /e/ in the next box.Do I hear
anything else in the word pen? Peeennn, I hear /n/, I will put /n/ in
the next box. Now I want you to try it." I will give the students
different words to spell.Making sure to
use the word I give them in a sentence. 2-[Ed, at], 3-[fed,
neck, ten, lab] 4-[nest, tent, fast], 5-[slept, blend,
crept, stamp]. Monitor the students to make sure they are putting
the correct letters in the boxes. If they spell the word wrong
say the word aloud the way they spelled it and see if they can correct
it on their own. If not then provide the word by modeling and
explaining the correct spelling.

Put the words from the
letterbox lesson one at time on the board and have them read each
word. If the students are struggling with the word model for the
students how to read the word on the board. "For the word fed, I
first would start with /e/, then add the /f//e/-/fe/, and finally add
the end of the word /fe/d/- /fed/."

"You are doing a great
job! Now, we are going to read a book and listen for the /e/
sound. We are going to read Red Gets
Fed. Red it a dog.Red
is some times tricky.Red loves to eat and
eat.Red decides to pull a trick on his
family but I wonder what he is going to do?Well
we will have to read this book to find out." Put the students in
partners and have them take turns reading the book to each other.

For assessment I will
bring each child up to my desk individually and take a running record
while they read Red Gets Fed.